Note that this is stated in terms of maps – product and inverse must be maps in the category – and without any reference to underlying "elements" of group – categories in general do not have elements to their objects.

Another way to state the above is to say G is a group object in a category C if for every object X in C, there is a group structure on the morphisms hom(X, G) from X to G such that the association of X to hom(X, G) is a (contravariant) functor from C to the category of groups.

Each set G for which a group structure (G,m,u) can be defined can be considered a group object in the category of sets. The map m is the group operation, the map e (whose domain is a singleton) picks out the identity element u of G, and the map inv assigns to every group element its inverse. eG : G → G is the map that sends every element of G to the identity element.

The group objects in the category of groups (or monoids) are the Abelian groups. The reason for this is that, if inv is assumed to be a homomorphism, then G must be abelian. More precisely: if A is an abelian group and we denote by m the group multiplication of A, by e the inclusion of the identity element, and by inv the inversion operation on A, then (A,m,e,inv) is a group object in the category of groups (or monoids). Conversely, if (A,m,e,inv) is a group object in one of those categories, then m necessarily coincides with the given operation on A, e is the inclusion of the given identity element on A, inv is the inversion operation and A with the given operation is an abelian group. See also Eckmann-Hilton argument.

Given a category C with finite coproducts, a cogroup object is an object G of C together with a "comultiplication" m: G → GG, a "coidentity" e: G → 0, and a "coinversion" inv: G → G, which satisfy the dual versions of the axioms for group objects. Here 0 is the initial object of C. Cogroup objects occur naturally in algebraic topology.